Fish Taco Friday

Ash Wednesday was last week, which marks the beginning of Lent (the 40 days before Easter). Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday, and has been a day of partying and excess for centuries. Because traditionally people give up things for Lent, they used Fat Tuesday as the day to eat all of their eggs, butter, sweets, alcohol, and anything else that they wouldn't be eating again until Easter. Hence how Mardi Gras began (Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French).

All decked out for Mardi Gras!

Now we didn't go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but we did mark the beginning of Lent. Although I wouldn't describe ourselves as ultra-religious, we did go to church on Ash Wednesday, and Derek is giving something up for Lent this year. I haven't chosen to give anything up, but I've given myself the challenge of no-meat Fridays.

Typically a Catholic tradition, eating fish on Fridays is an interesting culinary challenge for me. We enjoy fish on occasion, but it isn't completely in my comfort zone of cooking (that mostly falls in the dessert category). So for the first Friday of Lent, rather than just cook a potentially boring filet of white fish, I decided to push my limits and attempt fish tacos. I'm happy to say that the results were pretty good.

To cook the fish, I took a couple of filets of tilapia and marinated them in olive oil, lemon juice, and freshly minced garlic for approximately 20 minutes. I then cooked them in a skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side. Since I was going to flake the fish up for the tacos anyway, I could test whether the fish was done by testing the flakiness with a fork right there in the pan. So it was done when my fork easily flaked the fish into pieces.

Addison loves the park,
more than fish tacos

Starting with two soft corn tortillas, I put down a small bed of lettuce (you can also use cabbage). I put the flaked fish onto the lettuce and then added a homemade pico de gallo (freshly diced onions, green bell peppers, tomatoes, with lemon juice and garlic). I topped the whole thing with a great fish taco sauce that I found here (I've repeated the recipe below, and am super excited to try more recipes from her blog). A little bit of fresh chopped cilantro and some sliced avocado on the side, and th dish was complete! Overall, I would say that the entire dish was pretty easy to make and turned out very tasty. I'd recommend it to anyone; especially that fish taco sauce.

Fish Taco Sauce
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (you can also use sour cream)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 lime, cut in half
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika (you can also use chipotle chili powder, but I didn't have any on hand)
1/2 teaspoon capers, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

1. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt and mayonnaise until well blended.

2. Squeeze the juice from one lime half into the mayo mixture, then whisk thoroughly. You’ll want the consistency of a pourable, creamy salad dressing. If still too thick, add more lime juice from the other half. If too runny, add more yogurt.

3. Add all of the spices, whisking to mix thoroughly. Add the capers, minced jalapeño and cilantro, and whisk thoroughly.

4. Cover the bowl with wrap and refrigerate the sauce for at least one hour — the longer the better.

5. Serve chilled. Spoon white sauce over fish tacos, or add into taco salads or rice bowls.